Cell culture material based on microbial cellulose

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates material based on microbial cellulose that is useful in culturing and transferring cells as well as delivering drugs. The material comprises cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof, based on microbial cellulose, wherein the cellulose nanofibers are in a form of a hydrogel or membrane. The invention also provides methods for producing these materials and compositions and uses thereof.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to cell culture and cell delivery compositions comprising cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof based on microbial cellulose.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Health care remains at the foremost frontiers for scientific research. The need to discover and develop cost-effective and safer medications is ever increasing. The ability to accurately model the cellular organization within a particular tissue or organ is of paramount importance. A close replica of the in vivo system to in vitro would require cell growth in three dimensions (3D). The “cross-talk” achieved between the cells in a 3D cell culture in vitro is a close mimic of cell growth under physiological conditions. Indeed, 3D cell culture have assumed significance in efforts directed towards regenerative medicine, better understanding of chronic diseases and providing superior in vitro model system for screening drugs and toxicological assays. Its emergence is thus being aptly touted as “biology's new dimension”.

Intense research efforts are on to identify and develop “factors and scaffolds” that would favor 3D cell growth in vitro. The cells under physiological conditions not only “cross-talk” amongst themselves but also interact with the cellular microenvironment, the extra-cellular matrix (ECM), with which they reside. The ECM provides structural support to the cells and also contributes to signaling and directing cell fate. Mostly, the ECM is composed of glycosaminoglycans and fibrous proteins such as collagen, elastin, laminin and fibronectin self assembled into nanofibrillar network. An ideal scaffold for 3D cell growth should be able to mimic the structural component of native ECM, support cell growth and maintenance, have the right sized network of interconnected pores for efficient cell migration and transfer of nutrients to the cells. In essence, the mechanical and chemical properties of the scaffold should lead to cellular function as in the native state.

Hydrogels, both of synthetic and natural origin have emerged as suitable scaffolds for 3D cell culture. The network of interconnected pores in hydrogels allows for retention of a large amount of biological fluid, facilitates transport of oxygen, nutrients and waste. Furthermore, most hydrogels can be formed under mild cytocompatible conditions and the biological properties can be modulated by surface chemistry. Engineered hydrogels with modified mechanical, chemical and biological properties have the potential to mimic the ECM and thus establish their utility in 3D cell culture. Commercial products for 3D cell culturing are for example PuraMatrix™ (3DM Inc.) and Matrigel (BD Biosciences). PuraMatrix™ is a hydrogel of self-assembled peptide nanofibers which resembles the structure of natural fibrillar collagen in ECM with fiber diameter 5-10 nm. It has also high water content, typically 99.5%. U.S. Pat. No. 7,449,180 and WO 2004/007683 disclose peptide hydrogels. Matrigel is gelatinous protein mixture secreted by mouse tumor cells. The mixture resembles the complex extracellular environment found in many tissues and is used by cell biologists as a substrate for cell culture. MaxGel™ ECM Matrix (Sigma-Aldrich), which includes a mixture of human ECM components, forms a gel in ambient temperature.

Bacterial cellulose has been used in wound healing membranes and as a scaffold in cell culture. The limitation in the use of bacterial cellulose in cell culture is the inherent structure of the fermented material; upon cultivation, BC is formed as very tight membranes in air water interphase in the fermenter. The formed membranes are too tight for many 3D cell culturing tasks.

Hydrogel materials are also widely used in other types of culturing tasks where hydrophilic supporting material is needed, for example agar type hydrocolloids are widely used in plant cell, bacterial, and fungi culturing for various microbiological purposes.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,471 discloses a carrier for culturing cells made of ultra fine fibers. WO 2009/126980 discloses cellulose-based hydrogel, which contains cellulose exhibiting an average degree of polymerization of 150-6200.

The solutions of the prior art have been found to be rather unsatisfactory in cell culture. All the present 2D and 3D cell culture methods and matrices require the use of animal based chemicals or compounds on the biomaterial media in order to cells to be maintained and multiplied. Maintenance of stem cells is especially demanding and there exists no simple solutions for matrix used with cell culture media which would keep the stem cells alive. The presence of animal based compounds in cell culture environment generates a serious risk of immunoreactions, and different types of toxicity issues, which finally will kill the cultured cells. Cell culture matrices containing animal-based additives are not suitable for use with stem cells, especially, if stem cells are to be used for tissue transplantation and tissue technology (engineering). Furthermore, many of the polymers proposed for use in the cell culture media do not tolerate a physiological temperature or are toxic for cells.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

There is a clear need for improved cell culture material that is able to provide proper three or two dimensional support for various cell types. Those functional 3D cell models can be utilized as tools in drug discovery replacing the animal experiments and being more advanced than the nowadays used 2D cell models. Transportation of cultured cells is also highly desirable, for example when tissue transfers or cell therapy is the goal. Possibility to transfer cultured cell clusters in 3D matrix is desirable when different in vitro cell models are being developed. Existing 3D cell culture biomaterials do not allow transferring the hydrogel matrix with a needle without seriously damaging the cultured cells.

An object of the present invention is thus to provide a novel approach to at least partially solve or alleviate the aforementioned problems arising in the prior art. The objects of the invention are achieved by a cell culture or cell delivery composition comprising cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof based on microbial cellulose. Characteristic features of the invention are stated in the independent claims. The preferred embodiments are disclosed in the dependent claims.

The present invention is based on the use of cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof, based on microbial cellulose, in 2D and 3D cell culture matrix. The present invention provides the use of said cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof in the cell culture matrix.

The present inventor surprisingly found out that CNF hydrogel, based on microbial cellulose, can be used without any modifications as biomimetic human ECM for 3D cell culture. Cell proliferation and viability data suggests CNF hydrogel to be an optimal biomaterial for 3D cell scaffolds for advances functional cell based high throughput screening assays in drug development, in drug toxicity testing and in regenerative medicine and further for cell delivery in vivo.

The present inventors describe the physical and biocompatibility properties of CNF hydrogel. The present invention is based on experimental studies on hydrogels composed of cellulose nanofibers (CNF), which are dispersed in aqueous environment. The nanofibers are highly hydrophilic due to hydroxyl functionalities of cellulose polymers.

Accordingly the present invention provides as a first aspect a cell culture or cell delivery composition comprising cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof, based on microbial cellulose, where in said composition the cellulose nanofiber(s) are in a form of a hydrogel or membrane.

A significant advantage of the present invention is that cells may be maintained (and proliferated) on or in the biomaterial media without animal or human based chemicals originating outside the cells.

The cells are evenly dispersed on or in the media/matrix containing cellulose nanofibers or derivatives thereof. Cells divide on or in the media, start to proliferate and the cell clusters start to grow spontaneously without the accumulation of cells on the bottom of the cell culture platform. The homogenous dividing of the cells in the cellulose nanofibers or a derivative thereof is a prerequisite for the biomaterial to function as 3D cell culture media.

Further advantages of the present invention include: cellulose nanofibers and derivatives thereof are inert and give no fluorescent background.

The media comprising cellulose nanofibers or a derivative thereof can be injected. Injectability is explained by the rheological properties. The injection can be performed so that the cells stay stable inside the matrix and they are homogeneously distributed in the matrix after injection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts viscosity of 0.5% CNF hydrogels based on microbial cellulose as function of applied shear stress.

FIG. 2 depicts schematic presentation of a cell containing CNF hydrogel based on microbial cellulose flowing in a needle. High shear rate region (low viscosity) is located at the gel-needle interface and low shear rate region (very high viscosity) is located in the middle of the needle.

FIG. 3 depicts stability 0.5 mm glass beads in 0.5% CNF hydrogel based on microbial cellulose, for 15 hours period. The sample is stored at room temperature.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a cell culture or cell delivery composition comprising cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof, wherein the cellulose nanofibers or a derivative thereof, based or originating from microbial cellulose, are in a form of a hydrogel or membrane. Said cellulose nanofibers or derivatives thereof can be obtained from non-animal based material such as raw material comprising microbial cellulose or raw material derived from bacterial fermentation processes, commonly known as bacterial cellulose (BC).

Unless otherwise specified, the terms, which are used in the specification and claims, have the meanings commonly used in the cell culture. Specifically, the following terms have the meanings indicated below.

The term “cell culture or cell delivery composition” refers to a material comprising cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives of cellulose nanofibers, and which material is used as a cell culture medium or for cell delivery. Said composition can also be used to transfer cells or cell clusters. Cellulose nanofibers can be in a form of a hydrogel or membrane. Said composition can further contain various additives such as special extra cellular matrix components, serum, growth factors, and proteins.

The term “cellulose raw material” refers to cellulose raw material derived from the cellulose-producing micro-organism. The micro-organisms may be of the genus Gluconoacetobacter, Acetobacter, Agrobacterium, Rhizobium, Pseudomonas or Alcaligenes, suitably the genus Acetobacter, such as the species Acetobacter xylinum or Acetobacter pasteurianus.

The term “cellulose nanofiber” refers to a collection of isolated cellulose nanofibers, ribbon or rod like structures or different types of nanofiber networks derived from microbial cellulose raw material. Nanofibers have typically high aspect ratio: the length might exceed one micrometer while the number-average diameter is less than 1 μm, preferably less than 200 nm, typically from 20 to 100 nm. The diameter of nanofiber networks can also be larger. The dimensions of the fibrils or fibril networks are dependent on raw material and disintegration method.

Mechanical disintegration of cellulose nanofibers from cellulose raw material is carried out with suitable equipment such as a refiner, grinder, homogenizer, colloider, friction grinder, ultrasound sonicator, fluidizer such as microfluidizer, macrofluidizer or fluidizer-type homogenizer. Particularly the mechanical disintegration improves the porosity of the hydrogel, which is needed for cell penetration and formation of cell clusters.

“Cellulose nanofibers” can be directly isolated from certain fermentation processes. The cellulose-producing micro-organism of the present invention may be of the genus Gluconoacetobacter, Acetobacter, Agrobacterium, Rhizobium, Pseudomonas or Alcaligenes, preferably of the genus Acetobacter and more preferably of the species Acetobacter xylinum, Gluconoacetobacter xylinus, or Acetobacter pasteurianus. The obtained cellulose nanofibers are suitably treated with a base at elevated temperature, suitably with 0.1 N aqueous sodium hydroxide under reflux for removing bacteria and culture residues. Additionally, the product may be sterilized using any suitable means, for example autoclave. Preferably the microbial cellulose (cellulose nanofibers) is subsequently mechanically disintegrated.

“Cellulose nanofibers” or “cellulose nanofibers or a derivative thereof” can also be any chemically or physically modified derivates of cellulose, cellulose nanofibers or nanofiber bundles. The chemical modification could be based for example on carboxymethylation, oxidation, esterification, or etherification reaction of cellulose molecules. Modification could also be realized by physical adsorption of anionic, cationic, or non-ionic substances or any combination of these on cellulose surface. The described modification can be carried out after the production of cellulose nanofibers. Certain modifications may lead to CNF materials that are degradable in human body.

Optionally the cellulose nanofiber material is pretreated after the fermentation with acid and base prior to the mechanical disintegration. The pretreatment, which may be referred to as ion exchange pretreatment, may be effected by subjecting the cellulose raw material to acid treatment, preferably with hydrochloric acid for removing any positively charged ions having a charge more than +1, followed by treatment with an inorganic base containing positively charged ions having a charge +1, preferably NaOH, where Na⁺ ions replace the earlier ions. This pretreatment provides the “cellulose nanofibers” excellent gelling properties and transparency. This pretreated product is referred to as acid-base pretreated “cellulose nanofibers”.

Microbial purity of the “cellulose nanofibers” is essential for the cell culture performance. Therefore, the “cellulose nanofibers” may be sterilized using any suitable means prior to cell culture experiment in a hydrogel or membrane form. Additionally it is important to minimize the microbial contamination of the product before and during the fibrillation.

There are several widely used synonyms for cellulose nanofibers. For example: nanocellulose, nanofibrillated cellulose (CNF), nanofibrillar cellulose, cellulose nanofiber, nano-scale fibrillated cellulose, microfibrillar cellulose, microfibrillated cellulose (CNF), or cellulose microfibrils. In addition, cellulose nanofibers produced by microbes has also various synonymes, such as bacterial cellulose (BC), microbial cellulose (MC), biocellulose, nata de coco (NDC), or coco de nata (CDN).

Cellulose nanofibers described in this invention is not the same material as so called cellulose whiskers, which are also known as: cellulose nanowhiskers, cellulose nanocrystals, cellulose nanorods, rod-like cellulose microcrystals or cellulose nanowires. In some cases, similar terminology is used for both materials, for example by Kuthcarlapati et al. (Metals Materials and Processes 20(3):307-314, 2008) where the studied material was called “cellulose nanofiber” although they clearly referred to cellulose nanowhiskers. Typically these materials do not have amorphous segments along the fibrillar structure as cellulose nanofibers, which lead to more rigid structure. Cellulose whiskers are also shorter than cellulose nanofibers; typically the length is less than one micrometer.

The term “cellulose nanofiber hydrogel” refers to aqueous dispersion of cellulose nanofibers.

The term “cellulose nanofiber membrane” refers to wet or dry sheet-like formation of cellulose fibers, such as fleece. The membranes are typically produced by filtration of dilute cellulose nanofiber dispersion with vacuum filtration apparatus with a proper filter. Solvent casting may also be used to obtain aforementioned membrane structures. The obtained membrane can be used as such in wet state or dried prior use.

The cellulose nanofibers or a derivative thereof of the present invention may comprise chemically or physically modified derivates of a cellulose, cellulose nanofibers or nanofiber bundles.

The cell culture or cell delivery composition of the present invention may further comprise suitable additives selected from the group consisting of special extra cellular matrix components, serum, growth factors, and proteins.

The present invention also relates to a cell culture or cell delivery matrix, wherein the matrix comprises living cells and the cell culture or cell delivery composition forming a hydrogel and wherein the cells are present in the matrix in a three-dimensional or two-dimensional arrangement.

The cells can be any cells. Any eukaryotic cell, such as animal cells, plant cells and fungal cells are within the scope of the present invention as well as prokaryotic cells such as bacterial cells.

Depending on the cell line, the culture may be carried out on 2D or 3D, i.e. the cells can be cultivated on the CNF membranes or gels or the cells are dispersed homogeneously in the CNF hydrogels or CNF membranes. Some cells may form monolayer, whereas some cells produce either monolayer or cell colonies.

Cells may be detected using any known detection means or dye known in the art.

The present invention also relates to a method for producing a cell culture or cell delivery composition based on microbial cellulose, comprising the steps of providing cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof based on microbial cellulose; optionally mixing together said cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof with water; and transferring or placing the cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof or the obtained mixture to the suitable environment for cell culture or for cell delivery.

In an embodiment of the invention the method further comprises the step of combining the obtained mixture with a suitable medicament.

Cellulose nanofiber hydrogels or membranes or derivatives thereof or the composition of the present invention can be used as a cell delivery material.

Cellulose nanofibers hydrogels or membranes or derivatives thereof or the cell culture or cell delivery composition can be used for delivering material for clinical use.

The present invention relates to microbiological use of cellulose nanofibers or a derivative thereof or the composition according the present invention, based on microbial cellulose, for laboratory and/or industrial purposes as a medium or a compound of a media for maintaining cells in vitro.

The composition comprising cellulose nanofibers or derivatives thereof can be used for immobilizing cells or enzymes.

The present invention also relates to a method of culturing cells, wherein the method comprises the steps of providing cells; contacting the cells with a cell culture composition comprising cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof to form a matrix; and culturing the cells within said matrix in a three-dimensional or two-dimensional arrangement.

The present invention further relates to a composition, method or use, wherein the cells are eukaryotic cells.

The present invention further relates to a composition, method or use, wherein the cells are prokaryotic cells. Prokaryotic cells comprise micro-organisms such as aerobic or anaerobic bacteria, viruses, or fungi such as yeast and molds.

The present invention further provides a composition, method or use, wherein the cells are stem cells.

The removal of cellulose nanofibers can be carried out for example with enzymes using enzymatic degradation of cellulose molecules. Suitable enzymes are for example commercially available cellulases. The cultured cell lines can be also genetically engineered to produce the needed enzyme protein into the culture system.

The present invention also relates to a method for removing cellulose nanofibers or a derivative thereof from the cell growth or cell culture material, the method comprising the steps of providing material comprising cell growth medium and cells and optionally medicament; diluting said material with aqueous or non-aqueous liquid; and removing the cellulose nanofibers by decantation. Moderate centrifuging can be used to sediment the cells and cell aggregates prior to decantation.

The present inventors surprisingly found out that the CNF hydrogel based on microbial cellulose can be used as biomimetic human ECM for 3D cell culture. Cell proliferation and viability data suggests CNF hydrogel to be an optimal biomaterial for 3D cell scaffolds for advanced functional cell based high throughput screening assays in drug development, in drug toxicity testing and in regenerative medicine and further to cell delivery in vivo.

The present invention discloses the physical and biocompatibility properties of CNF hydrogel.

Cellulose nanofibers of the present invention can be used in the form of hydrogel or dry or wet membrane. The gel strength of CNF hydrogel can be easily altered by dilution. Cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof having similar properties is not toxic to cells.

If cellulose nanofiber hydrogels are compared to UV cross-linkable cell culture hydrogels, like hyaluronic acid or PEG hydrogels, the CNF materials are considered much less toxic. In UV cross-linkable gels harmful photoinitiators are needed to initiate gelation while the CNF hydrogels are formed spontaneously. The non-covalent nature of the CNF hydrogels allows also adjustment of the porosity by dilution.

Cells are evenly spread in the cellulose nanofiber hydrogels and can automatically start to duplicate and grow into 3D cell clusters without sedimentation to the bottom of the cell culture platform. All the presently used commercial 3D cell culture media require the addition of adhesion peptide so that the cells would form 3D structure on the cell culture platform.

Cells attach to the platform and spontaneously distribute homogenously into the cellulose nanofiber hydrogel. Cells are suspended homogenously into the continuous phase due to mechanical support provided by the cellulose nanofibers fibers. The remarkably high yield stress stabilizes the cells and the grown cell clusters against sedimentation.

Some bacterial cellulose nanofibers may require an adhesion peptide. Bacterial cellulose may be used directly after fermentation, whereby the resulting membrane structure is firmer. However, suitably additional processing, preferably mechanical disintegration, such as homogenization is used whereby the hydrogel matrix is made more porous and particularly suitable for the present invention.

The firmness of the cell culture media containing cellulose nanofibers in gel form can be adjusted without influencing the properties of the cell culture.

Cells grow in the 3D matrix or on the matrix. Said material may be injectable or sheet-like membrane with appropriate surface topology.

The properties of CNF based on microbial cellulose are close to optimal for 3D cell culturing because it is transparent, non-toxic, highly viscous, non-animal based, insensitive to salts and temperature and pH, not degradable, it has high suspending power, no autofluorescence, high water retention, good mechanical adhesion, and it resembles ECM dimensions. CNF has negligible fluorescence background due to the chemical structure of the material.

Cells can be cultured on CNF gels for long time, for example 2 to 7 days or even longer time. Cells can be also cultured or only suspended in the hydrogel for a short time, for example minutes to several hours. Cells use nanocellulose fiber matrix as growing scaffold/support used as platform. Cells form clusters thus indicating the usefulness of cellulose nanofibers as 3D cell culture scaffold. Cells grow as layers or cell aggregates on or within the CNF gel, depending on the deposition method and the cell type.

Neither human nor animal based ECM components are needed to CNF hydrogels. Addition of fibronectin or collagen IV into CNF based systems can be beneficial in some cases, however. Based on the diffusion studies the CNF hydrogel is highly permeable and is freely facilitating the exchange of oxygen, nutrients and water soluble metabolites of the cells.

The CNF hydrogel is composed of a mixture of individual cellulose nanofibrils and fiber networks. The dimensions of the CNF fibrillar network of cellulose nanofibers or a derivative thereof resemble natural ECM network of human collagen nanofibers, which is commonly used as a cell support. The strength (elasticity) of CNF hydrogel stays nearly constant as function of frequency. Rheology data reveals the shear viscosity of about several hundred kilo Pascals in rest (low shear stress) to drop to few Pascals within one Pascal shear stress. That behavior is rather unique for biomaterial hydrogels. It enables the extremely good suspending capacity and support of cells and, by the shear-thinning behavior, enables the desired easy dispensing and injection of cells in CNF hydrogel independently of the size of the used needles, whose behaviors are not obtained earlier for other cell culture biomaterial hydrogels. The mechanical properties of elasticity and stiffness are optimal for CNF hydrogels for the 3D cell culture growth and injection of cells.

Furthermore, cellulose nanofibers or a derivative thereof is non-animal based material, i.e. there is no risk for disease transfer. Currently, most of the commercial products are isolated from animals. The present invention also provides possibilities to adjust physical form: CNF materials from hydrogels to membranes can be utilized.

Injectable hydrogel forms supporting matrix around the cells due to very high yield stress. CNF membranes are transparent and highly porous. Mass production is easy compared to alternatives.

Cellulose nanofibers are not toxic to the cells. The cell proliferation is almost double in case of cellulose nanofibers or a derivative thereof compared to the control (cells only). Cells can be controlled on CNF hydrogels for long time. Cells use cellulose nanofiber matrix as a growing platform. Cells form clusters, which indicate the usefulness of cellulose nanofibers or a derivative thereof as 3D cell culture scaffold. Cells grow as layers within the CNF gel. Cellulose nanofibers or a derivative thereof have neglible fluorescence background. Cellulose nanofiber hydrogel has optimal elasticity, stiffness, shear stress, mechanical adhesion and porosity to be used as 3D and 2D cell culture matrix.

In aqueous environment, cellulose nanofibers form a continuous hydrogel network of dispersed nanofibers or nanofiber bundles. The gel is formed by highly hydrated fibrils that are entangled between each other, even at very low concentrations. The fibrils may interact also via hydrogen bonds. The macroscopic structure is easily destroyed with mechanical agitation, i.e. the gel starts to flow at elevated shear stress. Cellulose nanofiber hydrogels and/or derivatives thereof have not been previously described to be used as cell culture material.

Applications of the present invention include providing cell culture material for biotechnology research. Cell growth media containing CNF based on microbial cellulose may be used for maintaining and growing cells as well as for transferring cells. The present invention provides cell culture medium which can be utilized for example in tissue engineering and wound heeling. Other applications include for example biotechnological or biological medicines and their dosage as well as functional cell testing assays of 3D drugs.

The following examples are given to further illustrate the invention and they are not intended to limit the scope thereof. Based on the description, a person skilled in the art will be able to modify the invention in many ways.

EXAMPLES Materials and Methods Preparation of CNF Hydrogels Based on Bacterial Cellulose

Bacterial cellulose nanofibers are isolated from fermentation processes of the cellulose-producing micro-organism (Acetobacter xylinum). The obtained cellulose nanofibers are suitably treated with a base at elevated temperature, with 0.1 N aqueous sodium hydroxide under reflux for removing bacteria and culture residues. After purification, large bacterial cellulose entities are mechanically disintegrated (homogenized) to smaller units and continuous hydrogel is obtained. The hydrogel is diluted with water to 0.1-2 wt % concentration. The bacterial cellulose based hydrogel is autoclave sterilized prior to cell culture use.

BC hydrogel can be prepared also from dried powdered bacterial cellulose by using one hour hydration followed by efficient shear activation with e.g. Warring-type blender.

Preparation of CNF Membranes, Based on Bacterial Cellulose

CNF membranes are prepared by vacuum filtration of an aqueous 0.2 wt % CNF hydrogel. After filtration, the wet membranes are dried under weight in oven at 55° C. for 48 h. The dry films are smooth and opaque with the grammage of 70-80 g/m². Bacterial cellulose membranes can be obtained also directly after the fermentation process from the culture system before the mechanical homogenization.

Enzymatic Hydrolysis of CNF Based on Bacterial Cellulose

CNF hydrogels based on bacterial cellulose can be hydrolysed with several cellulose enzymes, such as Celluclast 1.5 LFG, CCN0367 (Novozymes, pHopt 5), Prot. 90 mg/ml. Degradation of the hydrogel is conducted at pH 5 at 50° C. for 4 days and suitable Enzyme dosage is 5 mg of enzyme to one gram of CNF.

HepG2 Cells Origin of the HepG2 Cells

Human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells are obtained from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Manassas, Va., USA).

Maintenance Culture of the HepG2 Cells

HepG2 cells are maintained in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM, Gibco) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, penicillin/streptomycin (Gibco), 2 mM L-glutamine (Gibco), 100 mM sodium Pyruvate (Gibco). The cells are maintained in 75 cm² culture flasks at 37° C. in an incubator with 95% RT humidity in a 5% CO₂ atmosphere. Cells are passaged 1:10 by trypsinization twice a week with a 1:4 split ratio. The medium is changed every 48 h and cells are subcultured at 90% confluency.

3D Culture of HepG2 Cells on CNF Hydrogel Based on Bacterial Cellulose

Cellulose nanofiber hydrogel is placed in the bottom of a 96 well tissue culture plate and HepG2 cell suspension in growth media containing 25,000-50,000 cells per well are seeded either on top of the CNF hydrogel or mixed with it. CNF hydrogel concentration ranges from 0.01% to 1%.

ARPE-19 Cells Origin of the ARPE-19 Cells

Spontaneously arising retina pigment epithelial (ARPE-19) cells are obtained from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Manassas, Va., USA).

Maintenance Culture of the ARPE-19 Cells

ARPE-19 cells are cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM): Nutrient Mixture F12, 1:1 mixture supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), 2 mM L-glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin and 100 U/ml streptomycin. The cells are cultured at 37° C. in 7% CO₂ atmosphere. Growth medium is changed every 2-3 days and cultures are used at passage 24-30.

Culture of ARPE-19 Cells on CNF Membrane Based on Bacterial Cellulose

Cellulose nanofiber hydrogel is placed in the bottom of a 96 well tissue culture plate and ARPE-19 cell suspension in growth media containing 25,000-50,000 cells per well are seeded either on top of the hydrogel or mixed with it. Hydrogel concentration ranges from 0.01% to 1%.

Human ES Cell-Derived Hepatic Progenitor Cells Maintenance Culture of Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Human embryonic stem (hES) cell line H9 (Wisconsin International Stem Cell Bank, the “WISC Bank” c/o WiCell research Institute, Madison, Wis., USA) are used. H9 cells are routinely cultured on Matrigel-coated tissue culture plates in mTeSR1 medium and passaged by using 1 mg/ml Dispase (StemCell Technologies). In this condition, stem cells form 2-dimensional (2D) monolayer colonies.

3D Culture of hES Cells in CNF Based on Bacterial Cellulose

H9 cell colonies are mixed with 0.3% CNF hydrogel and cultured in mTeSR1 medium. hES cells in CNF form 3D cell clumps. In some experiments, 0.3% CNF is mixed with 58 μg/ml human fibronectin (Sigma-Aldrich).

3D Culture of Hepatic Progenitors Derived from H9 Cells in CNF Based on Bacterial Cellulose

H9 cells are differentiated into hepatic progenitor cells for 11 days following the published protocol [Hay D C, Zhao D, Fletcher J, Hewitt Z A, McLean D, Urruticoechea-Uriguen A, Black J R, Elcombe C, Ross J A, Wolf R, Cui W. Efficient differentiation of hepatocytes from human embryonic stem cells exhibiting markers recapitulating liver development in vivo. Stem Cells. 2008 April; 26(4):894-902)]. The derived hepatic progenitor cells are cultured in 3D environment using 0.3% CNF for 7 days. In some experiments, 0.3% CNF is mixed with 13 μg/ml mouse collagen type IV (Sigma-Aldrich).

Live/Dead Staining

H9 cell clumps and hepatic progenitors in CNF based on bacterial cellulose were co-stained with CellTracker Blue CMAC (20 μM) for live cells and propidium iodide (25 μg/ml) for dead cells. Images of the cells were acquired by confocal laser scanning microscopy (Leica TCS SP5 MP SMD FLIM) at 405 nm excitation wavelength for CellTracker Blue CMAC and 514 nm for propidium iodide.

AlamarBlue Assay for Cell Viability/Proliferation

Cell viability is quantified by AlamarBlue™ Cell Viability Assay Kit (Biotium Inc., Hayward, Calif., USA). Cellulose nanofiber hydrogel based on bacterial cellulose is placed in the bottom of a 96 well tissue culture plate and HepG2/ARPE-19 cell suspension in growth media containing 25,000-50,000 cells per well are seeded either on top of the hydrogel or mixed with it. Hydrogel concentration ranges from 1 to 0.01%. Cell viability and proliferation is measured as a function of days after culturing the cells on the cellulose nanofiber hydrogel in an incubator at 37° C. in 5% CO₂ and 95% relative humidity.

After 48 hours, AlamarBlue is added directly into culture media in 96 well plates at a final concentration of 10%. Plates are incubated for 5 h and were exposed to an excitation wavelength of 530 nm, and the emission at 590 nm to measure the fluorescence.

Confocal Laser Microscopy

The viability of HepG2 cells cultured on hydrogel and the formation of 3D HepG2 spheroids are assessed with Live/Dead® Viability/Cytotoxicity Assay Kit (Invitrogen) consisting of calcein AM and ethidium homodimer.

Briefly, HepG2 cells are suspended in 1% CNF hydrogel based on bacterial cellulose with or without fibronecin. The cell suspension in hydrogel is transferred to each well with cells. Cell culture media is added to each well. The hydrogel encapsulated HepG2 cells is cultured for 5 days and the medium is refreshed every 48 h. After 5 days, media is removed from the wells and the encapsulated cells are washed with PBS and incubated in ‘Live/Dead’ solution containing 0.2 μM calcein AM and 1.0 μM ethidium homodimer for about 45 min at room temperature. Live cells are imaged using a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM, Leica SP2 inverted microscope, Zurich, Switzerland) equipped with argon laser (488 nm/35 mW), HC PL APO 10×/0.4 CS and HC PL APO 20×/0.7 CS (air) objectives, incubator box with air heater system (Life Imaging/Services, Switzerland), and CO₂ mixer (Okolab).

Example 1 Comparison of Cell Viability of HepG2 Cells in Different Cell Culture Materials

Cellulose nanofiber hydrogel based on bacterial cellulose is placed in the bottom of a 96 well tissue culture plate and HepG2 cell suspension in maintenance growth media containing 25,000-50,000 cells per well are seeded either on top of the hydrogel or mixed with it. Hydrogel concentration ranges from 1 to 0.01%. The fluorescence intensity which indicates the cell viability and proliferation is measured as a function of days after culturing the cells on the cellulose nanofiber hydrogel in an incubator at 37° C. in 5% CO₂ and 95% relative humidity.

Three commercially available cell culture materials are used as reference 3D culture materials: MaxGel™ (Sigma-Aldrich), HydroMatrix™ (Sigma-Aldrich) and PuraMatrix™ (3DM Inc.). The experimental setup is identical for all the studied materials.

Viability of HepG2 cells is quantified by AlamarBlue™ Cell Viability Assay Kit (Biotium Inc., Hayward, Calif., USA) as presented above in the Materials and methods, Alamar Blue assay for cell viability/proliferation.

Cellulose nanofiber hydrogel show higher viability values than commercial Hydromatrix™ or PuraMatrix™ reference materials. If fibronectin is added into CNF hydrogels, the viability is close to commercial MaxGel.™ In addition the proliferation and cell viability increases linearly as a function of the cell concentration in both hydrogels. This observation supports the hypothesis that the CNF hydrogel mimics human ECM components.

Example 2 Transferring of ARPE-19 Cells with a Syringe Needle

ARPE-19 cells (25 000 cells per well) are seeded and cultured in CNF matrix based on bacterial cellulose on the bottom of the 96 well plate. Viability of ARPE-19 cells after transferring the cells with a syringe needle of different sizes is monitored. The same phenomenon can be obtained also with other cell types like HepG2 and ES cells. After the transfer with the syringe the cells are incubated for 24 hours, and the viability of the cells in CNF is measured.

These experiments prove that it is possible to transfer the cells in CNF hydrogel, the transfer process is successful and the cells are alive and stay alive during the transferring with a syringe. That phenomenon is obtained even with the smallest needle size of 27G, and no cut off concerning the size of the needle used in the transferring process was obtained. Samples which are transferred two times (Transfer 2) showed lower proliferation rates most probably due to the 24 hours shorter incubation time at the beginning of the experiment. Transfer of cells in CNF hydrogel proves that the cells are indeed within the hydrogel and stay there since cells which are attached to the plate will not be transferred (no trypsination). These experiments show that the cells remain viable during the transfer.

Example 3 Stem Cells

Live/dead staining of hES cell-derived hepatic progenitor cells Human ES cell-derived hepatic progenitor cells are imbedded in CNF hydrogel based on bacterial cellulose and cultured for 7 days with and without collagen IV. No background is detected, which makes this material extremely easy to use in this context. Usually other materials used e.g. MatriGel and MaxGel have a significant fluorescent background, and therefore it is difficult to work with those matrices. The ES cells are possible to keep in CNF hydrogel, they survive and thus this material is able to keep them alive. In addition, ES cells form also 3D structure, which has not been observed earlier with any other material.

Example 4 Diffusion of Dextrans through CNF Hydrogels

Detailed knowledge on the diffusion properties of a cell culture material is important. The cell culture material should be porous enough to allow diffusion of nutrients and oxygen to the cultured cells as well as to enable efficient diffusion of metabolites from the cells. The diffusion properties of CNF hydrogel is demonstrated with different molecular weight dextrans in the following manner:

400 μl of CNF based on bacterial cellulose (1%) is planted per filter on the apical compartment in Transwell™ filter well plates (filter pore size 0.4 μm). 1 ml of PBS is added into the basolateral side and 100 μl (25 μg) of fluorescent labeled dextrans are added on top of the hydrogels (MW of 20 k, 70 k, and 250 k). Plate is fixed firmly and left undisturbed on a well plate rocker. 100 μl samples are taken from the basolateral side and equal amount is replaced with PBS. First samples are taken with 15 minute intervals, other samples are taken with different time points ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours and final samples at 24 hours. Total of 168 samples are taken. Target plate (OptiPlate™-96 F) is measured at excitation and emission wavelengths 490 nm and 520 nm respectively.

The diffusion of the model compounds takes place at constant rate and it is highly dependent on the molecular weight (size) of the compound. It is clear that in the CNF hydrogels molecules are able to diffuse efficiently although the gel structure is firm enough to stabilize the cell suspension.

Example 5 Proliferation of ARPE19 Cells on CNF Membrane Based on Bacterial Cellulose

CNF membrane is placed in the bottom of a 96 well tissue culture plate and cell suspension in maintenance growth media containing 25,000-50,000 cells per well were seeded on top of the membrane. Cell viability and proliferation is measured as a function of days after culturing the cells on the CNF membrane in an incubator at 37 C in 5% CO₂ and 95% relative humidity.

ARPE-19 cells on CNF membrane are imaged with light microscopy. ARPE-19 cells can be grown 2D on CNF membrane and that CNF membrane is useful as 2D cell growth matrix. ARPE-19 cells proliferate well in hydrogels independently of the cell concentration used.

Example 6 Morphology of 3D Cultured HepG2 Cell Clusters—Confocal Laser Microscopy

Laser confocal microscopy is used for live cell imaging. The spheroid shape of the encapsulated HepG2 cells in the CNF hydrogel based on bacterial cellulose clearly suggests that the cells are trapped within the hydrogel and grow in three dimensions. The viability of the cells is independent on the concentration of cells in hydrogels and the size of the spheroids increased as a function of time in all of the cultures

By this way it is possible to show 3D structure of the HepG2 cells obtained without any other supporting material or ECM components than CNF hydrogel solely. This proves the usefulness and easy to use the CNF hydrogel as 3D cell culture matrix.

Example 7 Flow Properties of CNF Hydrogel

The rheological flow properties of CNF hydrogels based on bacterial cellulose show several features that are beneficial in the cell culture use. The hydrogels have a high viscosity at low shear (or rest) for optimum suspending capacity of the cells but also show shear-thinning behavior at higher shear rates to enable easy dispensing and injection. The ability of CNF to provide these kinds of rheological properties is demonstrated in a test series where the viscosity of CNF dispersions is measured over a broad shear stress (rate) range in a rotational rheometer (AR-G2, TA Instruments, UK).

CNF hydrogels show very high zero-shear viscosity (the region of constant viscosity at small shear stresses), as shown in FIG. 1, illustrating the viscosity of 0.5 wt % CNF hydrogels based on bacterial cellulose as function of applied shear stress. The stress at which shear-thinning behavior starts (“yield stress”) is also considerably high for the CNF hydrogel. The suspending ability of a material is the better the higher the yield stress. The cells are effectively stabilized against sedimentation by the combined effects of high zero-shear viscosity and high yield stress and high storage modulus. The gravitational force applied by the cells is much weaker than the yield stress. Thus, the suspended cells are “frozen” inside the gel matrix if mixing with CNF or “frozen” on the gel if deposited on the top of the gel.

The network structure of CNF breaks down upon shearing (Figure NN). Upon the application of a certain stress, the viscosity of the system drops dramatically and a transition from solid-like to liquid-like behavior occurs. This kind of behavior is beneficial as it enables mixing of the cells homogeneously into the CNF suspension by moderate mechanical shearing. When two-phase liquids, such as flocculated CNF dispersions, are sheared (e.g. in a rheometer or in a tube), the dispersed phase tends to move away from the solid boundaries, which leads to the creation of a lower-viscosity layer of liquid at the walls of the container. This phenomenon means that the resistance to flow, i.e. the viscosity is lower at the boundaries than in the bulk of the dispersion (Barnes, 1995). Respectively, injection of the CNF hydrogel with a syringe and a needle or with pipette is easy even at high concentrations (1-4%). The phenomenon enables also easy dispensing of cell suspensions with minimum disturbance of the cells, i.e. majority of the cells are located in the middle of the needle and are practically at rest (FIG. 2).

An easy injectability of the CNF hydrogels is also important feature when injectable formulations are considered. The CNF hydrogels have release profiles that could be utilized in sustained and controlled release applications. These two findings for CNF hydrogels enable various potential drug treatment applications, like intraocular, intramuscular, subcutaneous treatments or for example viscoelastic eye drop formulations.

Example 8 Stability

Even very dilute dispersions of CNF have a very high viscosity at low shear rates. The hydrogel structure is also recovered when shear, such as injection, ceases. At static conditions, CNF forms a hydrogel network with high elastic modulus and exceptionally high yield stress. Due to these properties, CNF has a very high suspending power of solid particles even at very low concentration.

The suspending ability at static conditions is demonstrated with 0.5 mm glass bead suspensions. 0.5% dispersions of CNF is to stabilize glass beads for very long periods of time, see FIG. 3, which depicts stability 0.5 mm glass beads in 0.5% CNF hydrogel based on bacterial cellulose, for 15 hours period. The sample is stored at room temperature.

Example 9 Enzymatic Hydrolysis

It is commonly known that certain enzymes, cellulases, are able to hydrolyse β-(1-4)-bonds in cellulose. For example endo-1,4-β-glucanases (EGs) that target cellulose chains in random locations away from the chain ends; exoglucanases or exocellobiohydrolases (CBHs) that degrade cellulose by splitting off molecules from both ends of the chain producing cellobiose dimers; and β-glucosidases (BGLs) that hydrolyze the cellobiose units (produced during EG and CBH attack) to glucose. Respectively, cellulose nanofibers can be enzymatically hydrolyzed to glucose with an aid of cellulases (Ahola, S., Turon, X., Osterberg, M., Laine, J., Rojas, O. J., Langmuir, 2008, 24, 11592-11599).

Enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose can be utilized in cellulose nanofiber containing cell culture systems for various reasons. Upon the hydrolysis of CNF hydrogel, the viscosity of the media is drastically lowered and the cultured cell structures are easily accessible e.g. for staining. Also, after the hydrolysis, the cell structures can be transferred or transplanted without the cellulose containing material. The degradation product, glucose, is generally non-toxic to cells and can be utilized as a nutrient in cell culturing.

The enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose nanofibers can be conducted with an aid of different cellulases at different environment. Due to enzymatic degradation of the gel structure, CNF hydrogel breaks down and the cells are easily separated from the mixture. The cultured cell lines can be also genetically engineered to produce the needed enzyme protein into the culture system. 

1. A cell culture or cell delivery composition, characterized in that the composition comprises cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof, based on microbial cellulose, in a form of a hydrogel or membrane, and the cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof comprise mechanically disintegrated microbial cellulose.
 2. The composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the diameter of cellulose nanofibers or nanofiber bundles in the cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof is less than 1 μm, preferably less than 200 nm.
 3. The composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the membrane is in wet state.
 4. The composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the microbial cellulose is derived from bacterial fermentation processes.
 5. The composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the composition further comprises additives selected from the group consisting of extra cellular matrix components, serum, growth factors and proteins.
 6. A cell culture or cell delivery matrix, characterized in that the matrix comprises living cells and the composition according to claim 1 forming a hydrogel and where the cells are present in said matrix in a three-dimensional or two-dimensional arrangement.
 7. A method for producing a composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of providing cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof, based on microbial cellulose, disintegrating mechanically said cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof to obtain mechanically disintegrated microbial cellulose, optionally mixing together said cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof with water, transferring or placing the cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof or the obtained mixture to a suitable environment for cell culture or for cell delivery.
 8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the method further comprises combining the mixture with a suitable medicament.
 9. A method for removing cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof, based on microbial cellulose, from a cell growth or culture material, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of providing a material comprising cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof, based on microbial cellulose, cell growth medium and cells and optionally medicament, said cellulose being mechanically disintegrated; diluting said material with aqueous or non-aqueous liquid; optionally centrifuging the material to sediment the cells and cell aggregates; removing the cellulose nanofibers by decantation.
 10. A method for removing cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof, based on microbial cellulose, from a cell growth or culture material, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of providing a material comprising cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof, based on microbial cellulose, cell growth medium and cells and optionally medicament, said cellulose being mechanically disintegrated; contacting the cell growth material with a degrading enzyme; optionally centrifuging the material to sediment the cells and cell aggregates; removing the cellulose nanofibers by decantation.
 11. (canceled)
 12. Microbiological use of cellulose nanofibers and/or derivatives thereof or the composition according to claim 1 for laboratory and/or industrial purposes as a medium or a compound of a media for maintaining cells in vitro.
 13. Use of the composition according to claim 1 for immobilizing cells or enzymes.
 14. A method of culturing cells, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of providing cells; contacting the cells with a composition according to claim 1 to form a matrix; culturing the cells within said matrix in a three-dimensional or two-dimensional arrangement.
 15. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the cells are eukaryotic cells.
 16. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the cells are prokaryotic cells.
 17. The composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the mechanically disintegrated microbial cellulose nanofibers are acid-base pretreated.
 18. The matrix according to claim 6, characterized in that the cells are eukaryotic cells or prokaryotic cells or stem cells.
 19. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the mechanical disintegration is carried out with a refiner, grinder, homogenizer, colloider, friction grinder, ultrasound sonicator or fluidizer.
 20. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the mechanically disintegrated cellulose nanofibers are acid-base pretreated.
 21. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the cells are stem cells. 